Garment District Home | Awards & Press | Cambridge Chronicle January 2006

Garment District here to stay

By Sarah Andrews / Chronicle Staff / Thursday, January 19, 2006

Vintage thrift-store and costume enthusiasts fear not. Cambridge's one-stop-shopping store for 1970s prom dresses, used T-shirts and funky wigs is here to stay thanks to a Zoning Board decision last week to let the Garment District sell off part of its property.

Citing high maintenance costs and one run-down shed of little use, owners of the Garment District petitioned to sell the property it owns at 125 Harvard St. and a parcel behind its store to the affordable housing nonprofit CASCAP.

"We'd like to stay in the city," said Chris Cassel, the store's president and co-owner. "And we have a plan where we can stay in the city for the foreseeable future."

The sale went through Tuesday, according to Michael Haran, the executive director of CASCAP. CASCAP purchased the two properties from the Garment District for $2.9 million.

Revenue from the sale will allow Cassel and his business partners to buy out Garment District co-owner Tani Halperin and own the three-story, brick building the store inhabits at 200 Broadway outright. Cassel plans to renovate the building to bring down maintenance costs. Cassel and Halperin purchased the Garment District for $3.4 million in May 2005.

"To not be able to do so [sell part of the property] would make it impossible for me to continue as a business," Cassel said last week.

Cassel and his business partner Brooke Fletcher, vice president of the Garment District, could not be reached this week for further comment.

Haran said development plans for the site were still "very tentative," but will likely consist of a mix of affordable and market-rate units for first-time home buyers with parking facilities underneath the building.

"The reason for [the unit mix] is two-fold," he said. "The blend is needed for financial purposes and on top of that, it will be a good mix of income for that area." Because of the low availability of Section 8 vouchers from the state, rental units won't be in the cards.

Depending on their size, Haran said the development could consist of up to 32 units, though a greater mix of two- and three-bedroom units would likely bring this number down. He hopes to have plans before the city in early summer so as not to miss the state funding rounds this fall.

The petition sailed through the Zoning Board last Thursday with no opposition. Letters of support were submitted by the entire City Council, Planning Board, and about 50 to 75 neighbors signed a petition distributed by the Garment District.

Barry Zevin, a Hampshire Street resident in attendance, said, "This is certainly the kind of retail activity we struggle so hard to try and keep."

City Councilor Brian Murphy, the Council's most vocal ally of the Garment District, praised the project Wednesday. "This is a real big win for the city," he said. "We keep a fun, vibrant, local business in place, we protect a neighborhood from overdevelopment and we bring additional affordable housing from CASCAP into the city."

Last fall, the Historical Commission voted to study the 200 Broadway building for possible landmark status. At that time, there was dissent between Cassel and Halperin, a real estate developer from Brookline, over whether to renovate the store, which Cassel wanted, or topple the building for condos.

The building is still under review by the Historic Commission and until they opine on its status, the Garment District must be treated like it already has landmark designation, meaning the structure cannot be torn down.

The building, built in 1893, is the only remaining, original soap factory in the city.

Murphy said the plan to tear down the building for condos would have been a "looming monstrosity" and "horrible for the neighborhood."

This [current] project is more in keeping with the neighborhood," he said. "And is helping to address a real need." Contact Sarah Andrews at sandrews@cnc.com.